FG wants Google to block 4 loan apps due to corrupt behavior
Four lending apps have been requested to be removed from Google Play by the Nigerian Government.
According to a statement issued by Babatunde Irukera, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the apps are Maxi Credit, Here4U, ChaCha, and SoftPay.
Babatunde Irukera claimed that some loan applications had resorted to rude, immoral, and unscrupulously exploitative business tactics.
He continued by saying that some of the applications under investigation have developed strategies to work around account freezing and app suspension Orders by utilizing technology and other alternatives to traditional banking services.
Babatunde Irukera statement read, “The Commission has also today entered further Orders that will disable or diminish violators’ ability to devise circumvention efforts or alternative mechanisms to circumvent the objective of the investigation and protection of citizens.
“Particularly, the Commission has entered further Orders to Google Play Store to draw down the following apps which were discovered to be created and operating as a circumvention of existing investigative interventions; Maxi Credit, Here4U, ChaCha, and SoftPay.”
Loan Sharks: Further and Continuing Investigation of Rights Violations in Money Lending Industry; and Release of Interim Regulatory Framework pic.twitter.com/kVA0UDIUyR
— FCCPC Nigeria (@fccpcnigeria) August 18, 2022
The Commission further ordered that all active payment systems, including Fluttewave, Opay, Paystack, and Monify, immediately stop offering payment or transaction services to lenders that are under investigation or that aren’t otherwise operating in accordance with the necessary regulatory approvals.
Additionally, it demanded that telecommunications companies stop provide the tools necessary to host the loan apps.
SokoLoan was singled out by the Commission as the offender with the highest volume of violations of consumer privacy, fair lending conditions, and ethical loan repayment/recovery procedures.
